Day 1:
We picked up Jason with Velvet Revolver blasting through the stereo. It was a terrible hour in the morning for a rock band, but as we headed out onto I 70 East, our blood was boiling with excitement. We’ve been on a few out of town weekend gigs, but this would be our first real tour. The adrenaline was on our side: 3 lost souls with no home but the road…with nothing to lose…for better or for worse.
Of course as we enter Kansas, the fog rolls through. Kansas is a long, dark stretch with nothing much to see. The weather is unstoppable…beautiful, like the dark side. White, nervous hands clench the wheel. However…we are Not in Reverse.
Around 1 p.m. Central Time, the weather releases and it is gorgeous day. The sun was shining and Burn Sand Burn is on the run. However, our smiling faces and bright eyes soon turned to fear as the pigs approached. They hunted us down like prey…nervous children twisting in our seats. “I’m gonna need to take a look inside the vehicle.”
After the two Kansas State Troopers ransacked our stuff…they eventually let us go without any charges filed. The two super troopers are probably still laughing at the high they must have received by scaring the shit out of us.
We pull over to freak out a bit and eat homemade sandwiches in Hays, Kansas. A random trucker comes over and says, “I heard on the radio that those pigs were giving you a hard time. Fuck and you were just trying to enjoy your day!” We waved to him, shaking our heads, confused. What did he hear on the scanner? Oh well. Fuck Hays.
About 6 p.m. we reach Davey’s Uptown in Kansas City, Missouri. We quickly walk to our favorite local BBQ joint: Gates! We order burnt ends on a bun and devour the sweet meat in a self-indulgent feast. Thank God it was hours before we had to be on stage because we were full and received the famous Gates’ “Itis”!!!
The show went well. We played great and had lots of friends and family of Cav’s out there to support us. The locals seemed to like it as well. Matt Gibbs, Cav’s old buddy, played in Mascara Satellites and they did a fine job. It was one of their first shows with their new lineup and they brought a good crowd. A dude named Jeremy bought us all shots of Jaeger…then there was the after party.
From 2 a.m. to 5 a.m. we drank and sang stupid songs with idiot friends at Matt Gibbs’ house. Good times were had. The weather seemed to be getting stormy. The end of the night was hazy. J. Brown spilled food all over the guest room…I think we may have broke some things on accident. Some random guy kept coming into the room and singing songs with his guitar. Strange.
DAY 2
Cav’s parents are always so gracious to us when we visit KC. They had us over for a picnic before we hit the road. We muscled down burgers and salads, took showers and relaxed for a few hours before our journey up north to Cedar Fall, Iowa. Doug, Cav’s stepfather, recorded video of the show. It’s always interesting to look back and see and hear how you played. We thought the show was OK before we saw the video, but after watching, we really thought we played great. We were tight, yet energetic…the performance was attractive and the response was good.
A Sunday night in Cedar Falls is not a great night to play music…couple that with the fact that it was the last day of the local college’s Spring Break and it makes for an empty room. The venue, The Hub, was a very cool spot—large enough to host relatively bigger named bands, with a very nice sound system and a large stage. However, the management was poor as was the communication. There was no local band on the ticket…apparently they “backed out at the last minute.” Even so, it didn’t seem like there was a great attempt to book anyone else…even an acoustic singer/songwriter would of helped. How a little-known band from Denver is supposed to attract a crowd on a Sunday night without local help is beyond me. Luckily Cav has family in the area that came out to support. They also bought a lot of merchandise, which helped our cause. Anyway, we sucked it up and rocked out two hours worth of material. It was great practice for the road! Cav’s Aunt Cindy was kind enough to let us crash at her house…hope we weren’t too loud!
DAY 3:
After a hearty meal at Happy Chef, we headed further north to the Twin Cities. I was excited to see my old friend, Seth. When we arrived, he had a 12 pack of Schlitz bottles waiting for us…because he’s classy! We headed to a little corner pub called The Nook and had Juicy Lucy’s…a Twin City staple. It’s a cheeseburger with the cheese packed in the middle of the paddy and it was delicious!
Again, the venue was cool, but the communication was lacking. Luckily, we had one of those “small world” connections with the sound guy who did a great job. He knew Lenny, our T-Shirt guy, who plays in the metal band, Cephalic Carnage. As a touring band, we should have probably played the middle slot, but the bar/other bands disagreed. That’s OK. We had 4 hours to wait around before we played. Seth bought us whiskey and we rocked out to a handful of people left in St. Paul on a Monday night. The bar was very fair with money, which was nice.
We headed carefully back to Seth’s house in Minneapolis. There he broke out his Egyptian hookah and we smoked, listened to music and chatted away. Jason and Cav loved Seth…he has one of those embraceable personalities. He’s traveled the world over, is as bright as anyone I’ve ever met, but he makes you feel right at home. We kept him up all night, walking through the woods, under bridges, drinking the bourbon all night. Seth had to wake up early to go to work…he hated life that Tuesday, I’m sure! Nora, Seth’s lovely wife, wished us goodbye…she also took great pictures from the show. Thanks!
DAY 4:
We headed for Madison hazed and exhausted. The first three shows were great. We’re feeling confident and we’re itching for more. We arrived in Wisconsin’s capital during a downpour. We found parking and ran for cover inside the venue. The Frequency is the place to play in Madison. We had another “small world” connection with this venue. The owner, Darwin, knows our good friend Chris Murphy and our old guitarist, Scott. They grew up together in Oshkosh and used to jam at barn parties. Anyway, he runs a great club and treats his performers very well. We spent some quality time with Darwin, the sound guy, and a few regulars in the Green Room. It was cool. We had our best show so far on the trip as well. There wasn’t a huge crowd, but those that were there loved it. We were also lucky to have an old friend in the crowd who let us stay at his place. Jason “Hasson” is a cool dude and was very generous.
DAY 5:
We grabbed a well-deserved bite to eat at Monty’s Blue Plate and left for the short journey to Oshkosh. Less than two hours later and we were drinking beers with Cav’s old friend, Andy Solomon at the Reptile Palace. Andy works there and hooked us up with the gig. He took us around the blue-collar drinking town, ordering us cheese curds and massive quantities of booze. People in Oshkosh really love their beer! And the beer is super cheap too! We made our way back to the shit hole Reptile Palace…our type of place really. It was a Wednesday night with no other bands booked, so the place was pretty dead. Andy had some friends come out though and they fed us free booze all night. We went back to Andy’s house and stayed up drinking some more. We woke up to cheese and Kentucky Fried Movie.
DAY 6:
Wow…getting into Chicago can be a hell of a drive. Poor J. Brown had to do the honors. My good friends, Ian and Jeff, live there…they play in the band, Voice of Addiction and they kick ass. I used to jam w/ them when we were younger back in Ohio. And they like to party. Chicago is crazy! We had the day off, so we ate dinner, bar hopped, listened to some live music at The Mutiny, and I don’t remember much else. Back at Ian’s place Cav disappeared into the attic, Ian pummeled his drummer and we all crashed in random corners.
DAY 7:
We had the whole day in Chicago to hang out before our gig. We did the traditional Chicago style pizza thing at Gino’s East downtown. We passed out flyers for the show and then headed to Reggie’s Rock Club. I was thrilled to play with VOA. I haven’t shared the stage with them since I was 21. They are amazing…check them out. Jeff, their guitarist, joined us on stage to jam on “You Stole My Pepperoni Roll and I’ve Never Forgiven You For That”. We had a great response to the show. VOA kicked ass. Chicago is almost too much fun. Jeff screams, “we’ve got two 30 packs of PBR and a handle of whiskey…whose coming over?” The night was long and tired and fun. Ian slapped some dude for trying to steal a piece of sliced cheese. Jeff started a fire in his back yard. I was happy to hang w/ AK47 again! She’s the fiddle player for Cornmeal and she’s super cool. We got parking tickets, barely slept and had a great time.
DAY 8:
We ran like bats from Chicago…dazed and confused. Omaha seemed so far away…and it was…especially as the storms rolled through western Illinois and Iowa. Rain, sleet, and snow made for a shitty drive. I wouldn’t have guessed that Omaha would have a big ghetto, but it does. We got lost for a while and then finally rolled up to the venue. Judging it from the outside, we thought about just hopping back in the car and heading home. We were exhausted and this place looked scary. We had the “pleasure” of playing with Retarded Minds Think Alike…their name sums it up. But, actually the night was fun. We played two sets and the owner loved us. He bought us drinks and treated us fairly considering the lackluster crowd. We ended up meeting some cool people who offered us their place to crash. We ended up jamming with these awesome bluegrass pickers all night and getting crazy. They were called Ragged Company and they were amazing. They had a cello player who used all these guitar effects to make beautiful sounds. It was a great night.
DAY 9:
We drove home. It sucked.